Uganda

Country Profile

Uganda covers a land area of 236 000 km2 and has a population of approximately 30 million people. It is also a poor country ranking 154 out of 177 countries measured on the current United Nations Human Development Index (2007/08).  Uganda’s annual per capita income is around USD 280, amongst the lowest in the world.

Uganda has experienced strong economic growth averaging 6.5% per annum for the period 1992 -2006 and a high rise in the real private investment since the early 1990s. Uganda’s economy is characterised by a large agricultural sector (73.3%), a large informal sector (26.5% of the working population), many small establishments and a low share of wages in total national income. The number of self employed in agriculture is increasing at 11.2% per year. 76% of the employed persons have primary and below educational attainment. Youth constitute 29% of the overall population. The need for employment was a key driver of migration with 28% migrating in search of work.

Uganda has made considerable progress in limiting the spread of HIV and AIDS and provision of Universal Primary Education. Yet there is need for HIV and AIDS prevention and care and improved quality of primary education, where drop-out rates for girls exceed boys’ rates. There are currently 1.1 million Ugandans estimated to be living with HIV and AIDS, which is the leading cause of death for the economically active age group of 15 to 49 years.

Cooperative situation

Cooperatives’ revival in Uganda grew out of the partnerships forged between the Uganda Co-operative Alliance (UCA) and international stakeholders over the last ten years. UCA’s initial strategy was to build a co-operative financial base to sustain future co-operative activities. The next step was to broaden the economic base of the co-operatives through diversification into selected enterprises that bring incomes to members.

As a result of these initiatives the membership of the Ugandan cooperative movement has been renewed and broadened and cooperatives in Uganda are no longer primarily relegated to poor men. The cooperatives revival is succeeding because all categories of Uganda’s society, both women and men as well as the youth are now included. Women membership now represents over 30% and the annual growth of the movement is estimated to be at least at 50%.

Cooperatives are mainly found in the financial sector. Thanks to the UCA’s initiative, the total number of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies is currently more than 1 000. In addition to microfinance, cooperatives are found in other sectors such as agriculture, housing, fishing, handicraft, transport, and small and micro enterprises.

The cooperative movement in Uganda is expanding rapidly, creating opportunities for different sectors to have lasting impacts on improving the lives of the poor and vulnerable. CoopAFRICA seeks ways to support the movement through technical and financial support. The growth and support of cooperatives in Uganda present the possibility of promoting all key objectives of CoopAFRICA : Establishing an enabling legal and policy environment; enhancing access to support services through Centres of Competence; promoting effective co-ordinating structures; and strengthening the cooperative movement through a Challenge Fund mechanism.

Challenge Fund Partners

The Challenge Fund facility of CoopAFRICA is concerned with three main areas of cooperative development: services, innovation and training. So far, CoopAFRICA held three calls for proposals under this facility. In the first call which closed in June 2008 a total of 145 proposals were submitted to CoopAFRICA. Eight proposals were selected for funding totalling USD 301,354. In the second call 141 project proposals were received in December 2008 from 6 countries, of which 22 projects have been selected. The projects for the second round are worth an estimated sum of USD 1, 330, 000. Applications submitted during the third call, held in May 2009, are currently being processed. Small grants of up to USD 20,000 are considered and selected throughout the year without a special call. The Challenge Fund is fully explained here.

The following projects from Uganda have been selected for funding through the CoopAFRICA Challenge Fund:

Aminanara Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Ltd Ox Ploughs and Drawn Carts, Cereal Cultivation, Soil Enhancement, Corn Milling and Skills Development Project The project will maximize its member’s cereal cultivation (Maize, millet, sorghum) and storage solutions, therefore increasing income and fighting poverty. The first step to the success of this project is maximizing acreage by the use of ox ploughs. Also, the soil nutrients being exhausted, it plans to introduce the use of fertilizers, leading to bigger crops.

I-Network, Rural Market Intelligence (RUMI) Project - (pdf file, 140kb) The project will focus on raising awareness of the role and importance of information in production and marketing and coaching beneficiaries on production information gathering. The project will expand sustainable micro level economic opportunities by empowering organized high level farmer groups with access and use of market information for enterprise selection decisions, and by generating production information for bulking and collective marketing.

Kachumbala Area Cooperative Enterprise (KACE), Internet based Cooperative Marketing Information Villages Project- (pdf file, 140kb) The project will establish a rural information network that will create knowledge centres in five villages. Kachumbala, a market centre and administrative node, will be the project’s headquarters and the information network’s hub. Here the staff will produce, translate, and update the information fed into the network. Each village will have a small, community-owned village knowledge centre, staffed by trained volunteers and equipped with a computer, printer, telephone, and with Internet access. The project will provide supervised free access to over 3000 rural farmers wishing to find agricultural and marketing information, learn about computers, search the Internet, communicate by phone or email, or use other services such as word processing, printing, and fax.

Bukonde Cooperative Savings and Credit Society Ltd, Revolving Finance Services to Enhance Farm Production and Marketing Skills Project - (pdf file, 140kb) The project will provide a revolving finance scheme to generate income, nutritious food, cash employment and boost household farm production and productivity, thereby improving household livelihoods in Bukonde Sub County. Community training and capacity needs will also be identified and prioritized. The project will work towards the development of democracy, responsibility sharing and capacity building, providing skills not only for employment but also for the advancement of education.

Nama Area Cooperative Enterprise Ltd (NACE), Establishment of Fish feed Manufacturing Plant and Fish Breeding Centre Project - (pdf file, 140kb) The project will improve the quality of life for smallholder farmers by offering them capacity building, market information and agribusiness development services. A fish feed manufacturing plant and a fish-breeding centre to produce 900 Metric tons of fish feeds and 500,000 fingerlings within a period of 9 months will also be established. Personnel will be trained in manufacturing and breeding techniques.

RUKAKA Dairy Farmers’ Cooperative Society Ltd, Improvement of Milk Quality Project - (pdf file, 140kb) The project will improve the livelihood of members through increased incomes derived from the premium prices paid to members for delivering quality milk. The project will acquire modern laboratory equipment such as a lacto-scan and a digital weighing scale to enable grading, weighing and paying for the milk according to its quality. Grading the milk will encourage farmers to improve their dairy farming skills, and provide an incentive for added effort.

Uganda Cooperative Alliance Ltd. (UCA), Co-operative Approaches to Enterprise Promotion and Rural Community Development (CAEPRCD) - (pdf file, 140kb) The project is to building the capacity of UCA staff and managers of leading organisations in Uganda through training in cooperative management. The training is dealing in detail with the issues and challenges of human empowerment and enterprise development in rural Uganda and the effectiveness of promoting the cooperative business model along with the support network and creating an empowering environment that promotes cooperative develop within communities. The training is further examining the best ways of establishing and managing processes of Cooperative/SME enterprise development.

Uganda Crane Creameries Cooperative Union (UCCCU) - (pdf file, 140kb) : Cooperative Dairy Processing Project  The project will allow dairy farmers to play a bigger role in the dairy value chain. The outcomes of the project will be increased employment and incomes, stronger cooperative organizations and quality improvement of the products.

Wamala Growers Cooperative Union, Cooperative Dairy Processing and Marketing Project- (pdf file, 140kb) The project will improve the union’s dairy production, storage, packaging, and collective marketing, which will in turn increase the farmers’ bargaining power leading to higher sale prices, thus making dairy production a profitable venture.

WOWOYA SACCO, Empowerment of people living with HIV/AIDs (PLWAs) and Commercially Sexually Exploited Young Women through Poultry Farming - (pdf file, 140kb) The project will reach victims and potential victims of HIV/AIDS, particularly the young commercially exploited sex workers, in an effort to offer alternative livelihood opportunities. Chicken production is one of the most lucrative business ventures in Idudi town. WOWOYA will introduce a revolving chicken loan scheme by giving 35 local chickens to each registered beneficiary. The beneficiaries will repay the SACCO with either 35 birds, handed down to a new group, or in cash, with a 2% interest. They will also be trained and provided with start-up feeds, a poultry kit and chicken wire.

Focal Point